Monthly Archives: November 2013

What is fidelity and what does it mean? The dictionary defines fidelity as meaning “to be faithful to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support.” Below I will give examples of each, faithfulness to a person, faithfulness to a cause, and faithfulness to a belief.
First let us consider what faithfulness to a person means. Faithfulness to a person could be a variety of things. Faithfulness could be to a king would be following that said king’s orders without question, regardless of whether they seem like the best course of action at the time. Faithfulness to a person could be faithfulness to a friend, being loyal to that friend, regardless of circumstances of either person involved, the friend or yourself. Another example of fidelity would be faithfulness in marriage, remaining faithful to one’s spouse.
Now let us consider faithfulness to a cause. One of the best examples of this might be Robert E. Lee. Lee was very faithful to Virginia, his home, his cause, to the point, that despite pain it caused him, he turned away from the United States, from an offer to lead the army in war, to secession with his state. He remained faithful to this cause the whole of the war, even while in last year or two his health was failing fast, with frequent pains in his chest. Perhaps it was this faithfulness and honor that caused an enemy officer to call his men to salute as Lee and his men rode by at Apopmatox.
Last of all, let us consider faithfulness to a belief. A belief could be a belief in God, in which case one would stay faithful to God and the belief in God, through whatever trials followed, oppression, mocking, persecution, torture, war. Regardless of the circumstances, no matter how horrible, one would stay faithful to that belief. Consider Paul, despite floggings and other persecution, eventually beheading at the hands of the Romans, he remained faithful in his belief in God and God’s goodness.
Fidelity is faithfulness to something whether or not it is easy, whether or not the circumstances one is in are good or horrible, such as the aforementioned torture and persecution. Fidelity is faithfulness even if the odds are stacked against one’s faith so high that it seems senseless to continue in that faith.

How important is the reading of stories? Can fiction have any impact on a single person? Can it have any impact on a society as a whole? Fiction has a very large impact on single persons, perhaps an even larger impact on society as a whole. Consider the effects of fantastical literature compared to say a gritty, realistic work. Or in a slightly different way, a dystopian compared with say an idealistic contemporary romance (in the modern sense of the term).
Let us first consider the story in the form of fantasy, what once would have been called a mediaeval romance. What are the attributes of a fantasy? Generally it is set in another place, either another planet, or a completely different universe and dimension. This helps to combat the idea that plagues modern society that unless you can see something it is not real. It combats the attitude of pessimism and cynicism of today. The idea that there is no hope of better things beyond this world. No hope of a life after this one. Fantasy helps to knock down the materialism of this world.
Consider the effects of a work such as The Lord of the Rings, what impact has The Lord of the Rings had on society? First and perhaps most visibly, it opened the door for more fantasies to be established, adults started reading fairy tales or mediaeval romances again, it paved the way to one of the largest fiction industries in publishing today. Second, it introduced, and subtly implanted in readers minds the idea that good can conquer evil, that there are better things after this world. Most importantly it introduces the idea of hope.
Now consider the form of story “dystopian”. The dictionary describes dystopian as meaning: “an imagined state or place in which everything is bad and unpleasant, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.” Three good examples would be George Orwell’s 1984, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Now this form of literature can have either a negative or positive effect on the reader. It can function much like a satire, as a sort of warning, saying, “This is what could or will happen if you’re not careful.” It can also provide an exaggerated illustration of either a state society is already in, or one that it is headed towards, particularly, as aforementioned, either an unfavorable political state, or environmental state. The possible negative effect that such literature could of course have is an implanting of a spirit of despair.
Story can indeed have a powerful effect on society. Fantasy and dystopian novels frequently make bestseller lists, so they are obviously read. The ideas presented in stories can have either a positive or negative effect on a person or society. The story is a very powerful thing.

Without civilization technology would not have advanced as it has (albeit its debatable as to the good of some of that technology), the great works of literature, i.e. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, would never have been composed or written down. If man had not come together to form a town, or tribe, or city, there would have been relatively little need for writing, there would have been none of the corporate effort needed for construction of technologies or monuments such as the pyramids.
The Greeks considered a couple of things essential to civilization. To illustrate this, let us consider what they considered the antithesis of civilization, the figures from their mythology, the cyclops. Homer says the cyclops did not farm (didn’t sow or reap), nor did they cooperate with each other, each looked out for himself. They had no cities, no institutes or schools, etc. From this we can glean that what the Greeks considered necessary for civilization was agriculture -the sowing and reaping of crops- and institutes or schools, cities and organized religion.
Without a body of people coming together, writing would never have been developed, and epics like the Odyssey or the Epic of Gilgamesh, would never have been written down, if even ever composed.
Without agriculture, no cities would have ever developed, as man would have been forced to move about in pursuit of game.
Civilization develops because of a group of people coming together and farming instead of moving around, because of technologies like the wheel, because of organized learning and religion that take away the necessity of moving about, because of the advantages of not having to fend for one’s self.

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